Refuse container engagement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11208262-B2
Application number	US-202016856698-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2020
Priority date	Apr 23, 2019
Publication date	Dec 28, 2021
Grant date	Dec 28, 2021

Abstract

A refuse collection vehicle includes a grabber that is operable to engage a refuse container, at least one sensor that is arranged to collect data indicating a relative positioning of a first arm of the grabber and a second arm of the grabber, and a controller having one or more control elements for selecting a target positioning of a first arm of the grabber and a second arm of the grabber. The first arm and the second arm automatically move to the target positioning in response to a signal received by an onboard computing device of the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A refuse collection vehicle comprising:
a grabber that is operable to engage a refuse container;
at least one sensor that is arranged to collect data indicating a relative positioning of a first arm of the grabber and a second arm of the grabber; and
a controller having one or more control elements for selecting a target positioning of the first arm of the grabber and the second arm of the grabber, wherein the first arm and the second arm automatically move to the target positioning in response to a signal received by an onboard computing device of the vehicle.

2. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the target positioning comprises an angle between each of the first arm and the second arm and a longitudinal axis of a grabber beam of the refuse collection vehicle in a range of 0 degrees to 90 degrees.

3. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the target positioning is selected by manually engaging at least one of the one or more control elements.

4. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 3 , wherein manually engaging at least one of the one or more control elements changes the target positioning by an incremental amount.

5. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more control elements corresponds to a refuse container size.

6. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 5 , wherein manually engaging the at least one of the one or more control elements corresponding to a refuse container size changes the target positioning to a relative positioning of the first arm and second arm corresponding to the refuse container size.

7. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the relative positioning of the first arm and second arm corresponding to the refuse container size comprises a distance between the first arm and second arm larger than a width of a refuse container corresponding to the refuse container size.

8. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the one or more control elements corresponds to a baseline positioning, and manually engaging the at least one of the one or more control elements corresponding to the baseline positioning changes the target positioning to the baseline positioning.

9. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising an onboard computing device communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor and the controller.

10. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor is located in a cylinder coupled to the grabber.

11. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the sensor determines a distance between the first arm and the second arm based on an amount of extension of a piston coupled to the cylinder.

12. A refuse collection vehicle comprising:
a grabber that is operable to engage a refuse container;
at least one body sensor that is arranged to collect data indicating a relative positioning of a first arm of the grabber and a second arm of the grabber;
at least one container sensor arranged to generate sensor data indicating a presence of the refuse container; and
an onboard computing device coupled to the at least one body sensor and the at least one container sensor, wherein the first arm and the second arm automatically move to a target positioning in response a determination of the target positioning by the onboard computing device.

13. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 12 , wherein automatically moving the first arm and the second arm to the target positioning comprises:
receiving, by the onboard computing device, sensor data collected by at least one body sensor, the sensor data indicating a relative positioning of the first arm and the second arm;
receiving, by the onboard computing device, sensor data from the at least one container sensor;
determining, by the onboard computing device, a presence of the refuse container based on the sensor data received from the at least one container sensor;
receiving, by the onboard computing device from a controller of the refuse collection vehicle, a target positioning;
determining, based on the relative positioning between the first arm and the second arm and the target positioning, a direction of travel of a piston coupled to the grabber required to position the first arm and the second arm in the target positioning; and
in response to determining a presence of the refuse container, moving the piston in the determined direction of travel.

14. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 12 , wherein automatically moving the first arm and the second arm to the target positioning comprises:
receiving, by the onboard computing device, sensor data collected by at least one body sensor, the sensor data indicating a relative positioning of the first arm and the second arm;
receiving, by the onboard computing device, sensor data from the at least one container sensor;
determining, by the onboard computing device, a target positioning based on the sensor data received from the at least one container sensor;
determining, based on the relative positioning between the first arm and the second arm and the target positioning, a direction of travel of a piston coupled to the grabber required to position the first arm and the second arm in the target positioning; and
moving the piston in the determined direction of travel.

15. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 14 , wherein determining a target positioning based on the sensor data received from the at least one container sensor comprises:
analyzing, by the onboard computing device, the sensor data received from the at least one container sensor to determine that the refuse collection vehicle is proximate the refuse container;
processing, by the onboard computing device, the sensor data received from the at least one container sensor to determine a width of the refuse container; and
determining, based on the width of the refuse container, the target positioning.

16. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 15 , wherein the target positioning comprises a distance between the first arm and the second arm that is larger than a width of the refuse container.

17. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the first arm and the second arm travel an equal amount in response to the determination of the target positioning.

18. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the at least one body sensor is located in a cylinder coupled to the grabber.

19. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the onboard computing device determines a distance between the first arm and the second arm based on an amount of extension of a piston coupled to the cylinder detected by the at least one body sensor.

20. The refuse collection vehicle of claim 12 , wherein the at least one container sensor is coupled to a grabber beam of the refuse collection vehicle.

Assignees

• Heil Co

Inventors

• Lewis David G
• Maroney Stanley L
• Blanchard Chad R

Classifications

• B65F2003/0269

  capable of moving along the side of the vehicle · CPC title

• B65F3/048 Primary

  Linkages (B65F3/041 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B65F2003/023

  Gripper arms for embracing the receptacle · CPC title

• B65F2003/0253

  Means for synchronising or coupling two or more discharging devices, e.g. for allowing the discharge of one large container or the simultaneous discharge of two or more containers · CPC title

• B65F3/041 Primary

  Pivoted arms or pivoted carriers · CPC title